The Author of the Palimpsest Texts or "Scraping Again" the Texts of Borges (1899-1986) Today - Through the Case of Averroes-

Year 2010, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 91 - 106, 07.09.2010

Recep Alpyağıl

https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2010.11.6

Abstract

In this paper, we try to understand Jorge Luis Borges’ references to the East, especially Islamic thought, by analyzing his short stories, including Averroes’ Search and The Enigma of Edward FitzGerald. This paper also attempts to conceptualize Borges’ philosophical gesture. It seems that we could reconstruct his deep epistemological insights through the met-aphor of palimpsest writing. In this way, it is supposed to answer the question of orientalism in Borges’ work and clarify the difference be-tween to be an orientalist and re-appropriating the orient. Finally, this paper critiques the “native orientalism” of Muslim thinkers in the Islamic philosophical context through the case of Borges.

Keywords

Borges, orientalism, palimpsest writing, the bricoleur, Averroes, deconstruction, Derrida

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